New Zealand Institute. 5G3 



70 feet in length, obtained in Port Underwood ; and also one of the Fin Back, 

 procured for the Museum by Mr. Charles Traill in Stewart Island. The 

 comparison of these skeletons, when they arrive at the Museum, will help to 

 settle some important points in the natural history of this species. The skull 



Neobalcena 



Auckland Museum 



Among the Foreign Mammalia the most important additions have been a fine 

 collection of eighty specimens of the Rodents of North America, presented by 

 the Smithsonian Institute, and twenty-four specimens of Reptiles from South 

 Australia, sent by Mr. Waterhouse. 



Birds.— The chief addition to the New Zealand birds has been the 

 acquisition of a large number of skins of huias, kiwis, kakapos, and other 

 specimens that, from their rarity, are useful for exchange. The only species 

 added to the type collection is a specimen of Procellaria lessoni, obtained from 

 the Chatham Islands. 



1 birds, the Museum has received from Mr. R. L. Holmes a fine 

 series of those indigenous to the Fiji Islands; also a collection, from the 

 Northern Territory of Australia, from the South Australian Museum j and a 

 selection of North American species from the Smithsonian Institute. 



A mounted collection of the New Zealand Raptores was sent by Dr. 



including 



Wellingt 



Eeptilia. — In this section the chief additions are the snakes 



collections 



Fishes. 



fauna of New Zealand 



during the past year, the most interesting being those obtained in deep water 

 off the coast by the "Challenger Expedition." A fine specimen of the 

 Ceratodus, the fresh-water ganoid fish of Queensland, has also been presented 

 to the Museum by Professor Wyville Thomson. Descriptions of some of 



Zealand 



Invertebrata. 



in 



this class, an interesting series of Crustacea and Annelida, from Spitzbergen 

 and the coast of Scandinavia, has been presented by Professor Loven. 

 Valuable additions to our Australian and Tasmanian shells have also been 



Mr. Gritton, and Mr, 



Mollusca 



Catalogue 



have 



published. Attention has also to be directed to the valuable lists of all 

 New Zealand Insects described up to 1870, prepared by Captain Hutton 

 Mr. R. W. Fereday, which have been published in the Transactions of 

 New Zealand Institute, Vol. VI., which also contains the Rev O P ( 



